St Swithun S Church of England VC Primary School

St Swithun’s Church of England VC Primary School

St Swithun’s Church of England VC Primary School

Child Protection and Safeguarding

Issue 6

September 2017

Author / Amended by / Date agreed by Governing Body / Next Review
Anita Whitehurst / November 2012 / November 2013
Anita Whitehurst / November 2013 / November 2014
Anita Whitehurst / November 2014 / November 2015
Anita Whitehurst / October 2015 / October 2016
Anita Whitehurst / January 2017 / October 2017
Anita Whitehurst / September 2017 / September 2018

At St Swithun’s Church of England VC Primary School we aim to provide a happy, secure, stimulating and Christian Values based environment in which children may develop positive attitudes to both living and learning.

St. Swithun’s Church of England VC Primary School aims to provide a happy, secure, stimulating and values based environment in which children may develop positive attitudes to both living and learning.

Summary of changes – Autumn 2016:

Summary of changes – February 2017:

This policy has been revised to reflect the changes to the statutory guidance as outlined below.

Section / Changes
Throughout /

• All references to ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education (2016)’ have been removed and replaced with reference to ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education: Statutory Guidance for Schools and Colleges, September 2016’.

• All references to ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children: A guide to inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children (2013)’ have been removed and replaced with ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children: A guide to inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children (This has been updated to reflect the updated guidance of February 2017)’.

• The term Designated Children Protection Teacher (DCPT) has been replaced with Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) to reflect the terminology used within ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’

5.1 / Additional – The DSL will be on our school’s leadership team and their role of DSL will be explicit in their job description. This person should have the appropriate authority and be given the time, funding, training, resources and support to provide advice and support to other staff on child welfare and child protection matters, to take part in strategy discussions and inter-agency meetings – and/or to support other staff to do so – and to contribute to the assessment of children.
10.4 / Changed to – All staff members of the school will undergo live safeguarding and child protection training (whole-school training) which is regularly updated and at least every three years. All governors must undergo governor specific online awareness training at least every two years.
10.6 / Changed to – The nominated governor for safeguarding and child protection will undergo live Governor Services training prior to or soon after appointment to the role; this training will be updated every three years.
2.5 / Additional paragraph – When a child leaves our school, the DSL will make contact with the DSL at the new school and will ensure that the child protection file is forwarded to the receiving school in an appropriately agreed manner. We will retain evidence to demonstrate how the file has been transferred; this may be in the form of a written confirmation of receipt from the receiving school and/or evidence of recorded delivery. Where a parents elects to remove their child from the school roll to home educate, the school will make arrangements to pass any safeguarding concerns to the local authority.
Section / Changes
6.3 / Deleted “including annual report” in Appendix B.
3.3 / New section on Child Sexual Exploitation
Updated with new guidance Working together to safeguard children – February 2017
3.4 / New section on Female Genital Mutilation
3.5 / New section on Preventing Radicalisation
3.6 / New section on self-harm and suicidal behaviour
3.7 / New section on children missing education
5.1 – 5.5 / New section on dealing with allegations of abuse made against other children.
7. What actions to take… / Additional reminders about front sheets and starting chronologies.
15.2 & 15.5 / Small changes to improve terminology.
15.4 / Additional sentence – The head teacher is responsible for ensuring that safer recruitment training is kept up to date.
16 / Whole section revised

CONTENTS

Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy4

Appendix A: The role of the Designated Safeguarding Lead11

Appendix B: Child Protection and Safeguarding Procedure13

1Definitions13

2Categories of abuse14

3Specific safeguarding issues17

4Recognition – what to look for17

5 Allegations of abuse made against other children17

6Safeguarding Children Continuum of Need19

7What action to take if you have concerns about a child21

8Dealing with a disclosure made by a child –

advice for all members of staff22

9Discussing concerns with the family and the child –

advice for the Designated safeguarding lead22

10Early help for children and families23

11Children’s-Social-Care-led responses to concerns about a child23

12Information sharing and consent24

13Record keeping25

14Professional challenge and disagreements26

15Safer recruitment27

16 Procedure for managing allegations of abuse made against27

school staff members

Appendix C: MANAGING ALLEGATIONS/CONCERNS ABOUT INDIVIDUALS WHO

WORK WITH CHILDREN FLOW CHART29

1INTRODUCTION

1.1.Safeguarding children is everyone’s responsibility. Everyone who comes into contact with children and families has a role to play.

1.2.Our pupils’ welfare is our paramount concern. The governing body will ensure that our school will safeguard and promote the welfare of pupils and work together with other agencies to ensure that our school has adequate arrangements to identify, assess and support those children who are suffering or likely to suffer harm.

1.3.Our school is a community and all those directly connected, staff members, governors, parents, families and pupils, have an essential role to play in making it safe and secure.

2OUR ETHOS

2.1We believe that our school should provide a caring, positive, safe and stimulating environment that promotes the social, physical and moral development of the individual child.

2.2We recognise the importance of providing an environment within our school that will help children feel safe and respected. We recognise the importance of enabling children to talk openly and to feel confident that they will be listened to.

2.3We recognise that all adults within the school, including permanent and temporary staff, volunteers and governors, have a full and active part to play in protecting our pupils from harm.

2.4We will work with parents to build an understanding of the school’s responsibilities to ensure the welfare of all children, including the need for referrals to other agencies in some situations.

3SCOPE

3.1In line with the law, this policy defines a child as anyone under the age of 18 years or for children with SEND up to the age of 25.

3.2This policy applies to all members of staff in our school, including all permanent, temporary and support staff, governors, volunteers, contractors and external service or activity providers.

4THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK

4.1Section 175 of the Education Act 2002 places a duty on governing bodies ofmaintained schools and further education institutions (including sixth-form colleges) to make arrangements for ensuring that their functions relating to the conduct of the school are exercised with a view to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children who are pupils at the school. Section 157 of the same Act places a similar duty on non-maintained and independent schools, including free schools and academies.

4.2Under section 10 of the Children Act 2004, all maintained schools, further education colleges and independent schools, including free schools and academies, are required to cooperate with the local authority to improve the well-being of children in the local authority area.

4.3Under section 14B of the Children Act 2004, the Local Safeguarding Children Board can require a school or further education institution to supply information in order to perform its functions. This must be complied with.

4.4This policy and the accompanying procedure have been developed in accordance with the following statutory guidance and local safeguarding procedures:

• Working Together to Safeguard Children: A Guide to Inter-Agency Working to Safeguard and Promote the Welfare of Children, February 2017
• Keeping Children Safe in Education: Statutory Guidance for Schools and Colleges, September 2016
• Disqualification under the childcare act 2006, March 2015
• Supervision of activity with children, September 2012

5ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

5.1The school’s lead person with overall responsibility for child protection and safeguarding is the DSL (Headteacher). We have 2deputy DSLs to ensure there is appropriate cover for this role at all times. The DSL’s responsibilities are described in Appendix A.

The DSL will be on our school’s leadership team and their role of DSL will be explicit in their job description. This person should have the appropriate authority and be given the time, funding, training, resources and support to provide advice and support to other staff on child welfare and child protection matters, to take part in strategy discussions and inter-agency meetings – and/or to support other staff to do so – and to contribute to the assessment of children.

5.2The school has a nominated governor responsible forsafeguarding to champion good practice, to liaise with the head teacher and to provide information and reports to the governing body.

5.3The case manager for dealing with allegations of abuse made against school staff members is the head teacher. The case manager for dealing with allegations against the head teacher is the chair of governors. The procedure for managing allegations is detailed in Appendix B.

5.4The head teacher will ensure that the policies and procedures adopted by the governing body are fully implemented and sufficient resources and time are allocated to enable staff members to discharge their safeguarding responsibilities.

5.5The governing body is collectively responsible for ensuring that safeguarding arrangements are fully embedded within the school’s ethos and reflected in the school’s day-to-day practice.

5.6All staff members, governors, volunteers and external providers know how to recognise signs and symptoms of abuse, how to respond to pupils who disclose abuse and what to do if they are concerned about a child.

6SUPPORTING CHILDREN

6.1We recognise that children who are abused or witness violence are likely to have low self-esteem and may find it difficult to develop a sense of self-worth. They may feel helpless, humiliated and some sense of blame. Our school may be the only stable, secure and predictable element in their lives.

6.2We accept that the behaviour of a child in these circumstances may range from that which is perceived to be normal to aggressive or withdrawn.

6.3Our school will support all pupils by:

• ensuring the content of the curriculum includes social and emotional aspects of learning;
• ensuring a comprehensive curriculum response to e-safety, enabling children and parents to learn about the risks of new technologies and social media and to use these responsibly;
• ensuring that child protection is included in the curriculum to help children stay safe, recognise when they do not feel safe and identify who they can talk to;
• providing pupils with a number of appropriate adults to approach if they are in difficulties;
• supporting the child’s development in ways that will foster security, confidence and independence;
• encouraging development of self-esteem and self-assertiveness while not condoning aggression or bullying;
• ensuring repeated hate incidents, e.g. racist, homophobic or gender- or disability-based bullying, are considered under child protection procedures;
• liaising and working together with other support services and those agencies involved in safeguarding children; and
• monitoring children who have been identified as having welfare or protection concerns and providing appropriate support.

7CHILD PROTECTION AND SAFEGUARDING PROCEDURE

7.2In line with the procedures, the Access and Referral Hubwill be notified as soon as there is a significant concern. Their contact number is 0300 300 8585

7.3The name of the DSL will be clearly advertised in the school.

7.4We will ensure all parents and carers are aware of the responsibilities of staff members to safeguard and promote the welfare of childrenby publishing the policy and procedures on our website and by referring to them in our introductory school materials.

8RECORD KEEPING

8.1All child protection and welfare concerns will be recorded and kept in a secure place within the school. Access will be limited to the DSL and the Deputy DSLs.

8.2We will continue to support any pupilleaving the school about whom there have been concerns by ensuring that all appropriate information, including child protection and welfare concerns, is forwarded under confidential cover to the pupil’s new school as a matter of priority.

9SAFER WORKFORCE AND MANAGING ALLEGATIONS AGAINST STAFF AND VOLUNTEERS

9.1We will prevent people who pose risks to children from working in our school by ensuring thatall individuals working in any capacity at our school have been subjected to safeguarding checksin line with the statutory guidance Keeping Children Safe in Education: Statutory Guidance for Schools and Colleges, September 2016.

9.2We will ensure that agencies and third parties supply staff provide us evidence that they have made the appropriate level of safeguarding checks on individuals working in our school. This information will be recorded on the school premises in the appropriate manner as outlined by the latest legislation.

9.3We will ensure that at least one member of every interview panel has completed safer recruitment training.

9.4We have a procedure in place to handle allegations against members of staff and volunteers in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education: Statutory Guidance for Schools and Colleges, September 2016. This procedure is detailed in Appendix B.

10STAFF INDUCTION, TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

10.1All new members of staff, including newly-qualified teachers and teaching assistants, will be given induction that includes basic child protection training on how to recognise signs of abuse, how to respond to any concerns, e-safety and familiarisation with the safeguarding and child protection policy, staff code of conduct, Keeping Children Safe in Education: Statutory Guidance for Schools and Colleges, Part One, September 2016and other related policies.

10.2The induction will be proportionate to staff members’ roles and responsibilities and will include an online module available through the LCSB CPD online.

10.3The knowledge and skills of the DSL and his/her deputy/deputies will be updated at least annually, to ensure he/she keeps up to date with developments relevant to the role.

10.4All staff members of the school will undergo live safeguarding and child protection training (whole-school training) which is regularly updated as required but at least annually. All governors must undergo governor specific online awareness training at least every two years.

10.5Staff members who miss the whole-school training will be required to undertake other relevant training to make up for it, e.g. by completing online training or joining another school’s whole-school training.

10.6The nominated governor for safeguarding and child protection will undergo live Governor Services training prior to or soon after appointment to the role; this training will be updated every three years.

10.7We will ensure that staff members provided by other agencies and third parties, e.g. supply teachers and contractors, have received appropriate child protection training commensurate with their roles before starting work. They will be given the opportunity to take part in whole-school training if it takes place during their period of work for the school.

10.8The DSL will provide an annual briefing to the school on any changes to child protection legislation and procedures and relevant learning from local and national serious case reviews.

10.9The school will maintain accurate records of staff induction and training.

11CONFIDENTIALITY, CONSENT AND INFORMATION SHARING

11.1We recognise that all matters relating to child protection are confidential.

11.2The head teacher or the DSL will disclose any information about a pupil to other members of staff on a need-to-know basis only.

11.3All staff members must be aware that they cannot promise a child to keep secrets which might compromise the child’s safety or well-being.

11.4All staff members have a professional responsibility to share information with other agencies in order to safeguard children.

11.5All our staff members who come into contact with children will be given appropriate training to understand the purpose of information sharing in order to safeguard and promote children’s welfare.

11.6We will ensure that staff members are confident about what they can and should do under the law, including how to obtain consent to share information and when information can be shared without consent. This is covered in greater detail in Appendix B.

12INTER-AGENCY WORKING

12.1We will develop and promote effective working relationships with other agencies, includingagencies providing early help services to children, the police and Children’s Social Care.

12.2We will ensure that relevant staff members participate in multi-agency meetings and forums, including child protection conferences and core groups, to consider individual children.

12.3We will participate in serious case reviews, other reviewsand file audits as and when required to do so. We will ensure that we have a clear process for gathering the evidence required for reviews and audits, embedding recommendations into practice and completing required actions within agreed timescales.

13CONTRACTORS, SERVICE AND ACTIVITY PROVIDERS AND WORK PLACEMENT PROVIDERS

13.1We will ensure that contractors and providers are aware of our school’s safeguarding and child protection policy and procedures. We will require that employees and volunteers provided by these organisations use our procedure to report concerns.

13.2We will seek assurance that employees and volunteers provided by these organisations andworking with our children have been subjected to the appropriate level of safeguarding check in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education: Statutory Guidance for Schools and Colleges, September 2016. If assurance is not obtained, permission to work with our children or use our school premises may be refused.

13.3When we commission services from other organisations, we will ensure that compliance with our policy and procedures is a contractual requirement.

14WHISTLE-BLOWING AND COMPLAINTS

14.1We recognise that children cannot be expected to raise concerns in an environment where staff members fail to do so.